Inter Financial Weblog

 

Archive for April, 2007

Cost of running a home rises by 12% a year

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

Data analysis by Sainsbury’s Bank home insurance has put home cost inflation at 12% per year.  Sainsbury’s experts reckon that householders now estimate that running a home in the UK costs around £11k; nearly £1200 higher than it was only three years ago.  In persepective, this amounts to a rise in running costs of about £3.28 per day.
However, Sainsbury’s believe that homeowners can dramatically reduce their costs by shopping around for more competitive rates on home insurance, mortgages and gas and electricity supplies.

“It’s becoming more expensive to run a home,” says Robert O’May, home insurance manager at Sainsbury’s Bank. “[This] makes it all the more important for homeowners to shop around to make sure they are getting the very best deals available.  This is not only for their mortgages and utility supplies but also their home insurance.

“We’ve produced a free guide available at www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/homeguide which looks at how homeowners may be able to reduce the cost of running their home.”

Mortgage repayments account for around 60% of the total annual cost of running a home, followed by the money spent on alterations and improvements, which accounts for over 12% with gas and electricity bills seeing the biggest percentage increases of almost 27% and 19% respectively.

With recent interest rate rises, and more likely to come, it makes sense for homeowners looking to make alterations or home improvements to shop around for cheap loan rates, which are still out there. Many homeowners go straight to their high street bank, which typically offer uncompetitive rates compared to those available on the internet.

Improving Your Credit Score

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

Bad credit can be very damaging to your financial future, as it can prevent you from obtaining loans, or a loan with a lower interest rate.  If you currently have poor credit and you would like to make changes to improve your credit score as well as your financial future, there are a number of things that you can do to improve your finances.

One of the things that you can do to help improve your finances is paying your bills on time.  As obvious as a solution as this may seem, many people fail to do it and end up reaping the consequences.  If you fail to pay your bill on time, not only are you slapped with late fees and other charges, but the late payment will also end up on your credit report.  This can be damaging if you later want to borrow money, as lenders will see your late payments as a bad mark and possibly refuse you a loan based on the fact that you are late on your payments.

Paying down your debts is another way to help improve your finances.  As hard as this may seem, it is possible.  By not only paying your bills on time, but also paying them off completely, it will reflect on your credit report and improve your changes of obtaining a lower rate on a loan if ever you apply for one.  Paying off your debts will not only look good on your credit report, but it will also help keep you from falling into debt.  If a balance is carried over on a credit card, you will then have to start paying interest on the amount owed.  It is best that you pay off the full amount before the interest rate is charged to avoid having to pay extra for your purchases.

If you already have more than two credit cards, there is no need to have new or existing credit cards.  Your credit cards should be used for emergencies only, and by having less cards, the less likely you will be tempted to carry one when you go shopping and make unnecessary charges on the account.

FSA’s Investigations An Ongoing Concern

Thursday, April 12th, 2007

While consumers are reeling under the pressure of high fees, and are considering turning away from the big banks, the FSA is continuing to investigate the financial industry.

However, consumers are misled concerning areas that the Financial Services Authority is investigating. Partly because they are combining the Office of Fair Trading’s actions and the FSA’s as one collective body, which is misleading.

The FSA is investigating whether PPI premiums are too high.  Currently, PPI premiums can increase the cost of a loan by more than 50 per cent and offer little more than 20 per cent of the value of the loan.  These issues are referred to the Competition Commission for examination.

The legitimate questions are about how PPI is sold and the real cost of banking and administrating a PPI policy.  This creates a  problem for the FSA and the Competition Commission.

The organisation needs to tread lightly.  History has shown that  a de facto cap on the bank’s earnings from PPI products will force them to recoup the lost income elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the poorest, uneducated, and relatively disadvantaged shoulder the burden – those who cannot afford a personal loan or a PPI to start with.

Consumer watchdog organisations are worried that the banks will take the same approach they did when the OFA capped overdraft fees last year.  This will leave thousands of consumers unable to obtain debt management loans or afford a first home.

Fear that the banks will tighten their lending criteria until only the middle and upper income tax groups can obtain affordable loans is the main concern behind the debt charity’s mandate when lobbying government.